Document FR 2 440 145 describes a mower comprising a cutting mechanism intended to cut a standing product, for example grass. To do this, the cutting mechanism has four discs arranged in a transverse line of the said-mower and driven in rotation about a respective vertical axis.
This known mower also comprises a treatment device intended to reduce the time taken for the cut forage to dry. To do this, the forage treatment device comprises a rotor arranged behind the discs and driven in rotation about a horizontal axis. This rotor consists of conditioning elements and of a support. Each conditioning element comprises, at one of its ends, a connecting part. The connecting part allows the corresponding conditioning element to be connected pivotally to the said support by means of an articulation the axis of which is parallel to the axis of rotation of the said rotor. Because of the centrifugal force generated by the rotation of the said support, the conditioning element during work extends in a substantially radial direction.
Thus, during work, the forage coming from the cutting mechanism is carried, by an active part of the conditioning element, along a conditioning sheet to finally be ejected to the rear of the said mower. The passage of the forage against the said conditioning sheet causes a breaking-up of the stalks of the forage that encourages rapid drying of the latter. The brochure “Faucheuses-Conditionneuses frontales FC 15 280F / FC 313F Lift Control” [Front-mounted mower-conditioners FC 280F/FC 31 3F-lift control] published by the Applicant company, discloses another mower equipped with a forage treatment device. In that document, the said forage treatment device also comprises a rotor driven in rotation about a horizontal axis. This rotor consists of a support and of V-shaped conditioning elements. Each conditioning element this time is connected rigidly to the support by a central connecting part. The two ends of the V-shape extend in a radial position to form an active part.
During work, the rotational frequency of such rotors is generally between 600 and 1 000 revolutions per minute. As a result, if the connection between the support and the conditioning element should break, the latter element is ejected from the rotor violently by the centrifugal force. The conditioning element thus ejected constitutes a projectile travelling at relatively high speed. This projectile may damage other parts of the forage treatment device, particularly the conditioning sheet. Of far greater concern, such a projectile may also be dangerous to anybody close to the forage treatment device.